Flannie

“This is the flannel shirt – in Tasmania, we say flannie – I am wearing at the moment, and so it is my favourite. Flannies are slightly warmer than regular shirts, which speaks powerfully to my island’s climate, but they are also the most comfortable thing on earth, the closest thing to loose and fuzzy skin, which is better than it sounds. They also provide allusions to certain undercurrents in Tasmanian – my friend Pete Hay would say Vandiemonian – identity, which I find compelling, even if foolishness abounds within the notion. But where does it not?”